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REV. JOHN HIGGINSON, OF SALEM, MASS. 



At a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society, held in Boston, on Thursday, May 14, 1896, 
Dr. Samuel A. Green said : — 

Since the last meeting of the Society, our associate Colonel 
Thomas W. Higginson has given to the Library a rare volume 
entitled " Our Dying Saviour's Legacy of Peace to His Dis- 
ciples in a troublesome World" (Boston, 1686), which was 
written by his ancestor the Rev. John Higginson, of Salem. 
It is of special interest at the present time, as it adds another 
title to the List of Early American Imprints belonging to the 
Society, which appears in the Proceedings (second series, 
IX. 410-540). This little book has more historical value 
than usually attaches to such productions, as the preface con- 
tains some biographical matter which far outweighs in import- 
ance the doctrinal views so common in early theological works. 
Mr. Higginson, the author, came over from England in 1629 
with his father, who died during the next year. Though a 
mere lad at the time, the care and maintenance of his mother 
and seven other children fell largely upon him, the eldest of 
the family ; and he soon developed those traits of character 
for which he afterward became distinguished. For some years 
he lived in the Colony of Connecticut, but in the summer of 
1660 was ordained over the same church at Salem which his 
father had planted ; and here he remained for nearly half a 
century. He published several occasional discourses ; and 
among them is the Election Sermon of 1663, the first one 
printed in that long series of annual addresses. While he was 
a relentless opponent of the Quakers, he took no part in the 
terrible tragedy of 1692 at Salem, where he was then settled. 

The following is a fac-simile reproduction of the titlepage of 
the volume, with a collation of the same : — 



•S'4 7 



Our Dying Saviours 

LEGACY ofPEACE 

To His Difciples in a tfoublefome 
World, from John 14A7. 

My Teace I give untoyou&c* 

Alfb a 

DISCOURSE 

On the Two WITNESSES: 

Shewing that it is the Daty of all Christians 
to be Wimefles imtoChnft, from Rev A 1 .3. 

twill give to my two WitneJJes, &<J 

Unco which is added, 
Some Help to SeIr-£xarninauon» 

By J^» Higginfon Paftor off the Gharch in 

Salem. 

2'peta.i4>i? Knowing that I mufi: fliortty put off 
this Tabernacle, I will endeavour, that after my 
deceafe you may have thefe things alwayes ia 
remembrance, 

11 ' i nn 1 . ■ "■ ' - 

Bojlon, Printed by Samuel Green for John 
Vper near the Town-Houfe, 1686. 



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Titlepage, surrounded by a border line, verso blank ; 7 pp. " To the 
Church and People of God at Salem ; also at Guilford and Say Brook : 
Grace unto you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lord 
' Jesus Christ/' headpiece a line of seventeen border pieces, a rule, and 
Vy a line of similar pieces inverted, headlines " To the Reader," signed 
" John Higginson," and dated at Salem, August 6, 1686 ; 1 p. blank ; 
3 pp. "Christian Reader," headpiece similar to the first one, headlines 
" To the Reader," signed " of him who is a Well-wisher to Israels 
Peace, Samuel Willard"; 1 p. blank; 1-131, "John 14. 27," text, 
headpiece similar to the first, various headlines ; 1 p. blank ; 133-185, 
" Revelations II. III.," text, headpiece similar to the first, various 
headlines ; 1 p. blank ; 183 [187J-205, " Some help to Self-Examina- 
tion, which I drew up for my Self, in the Year 1652. But may be of 
like use to any, that shall peruse the same ; with Meditation and Self 
Application, and earnest Prayer, as Psal. 139. 23, 24," headpiece a 
line of seventeen border pieces, headlines " Self-Examination " ; 1 p. 
blank ; 1 p. " Advertisement," between two lines of border pieces, as 
given below : — 




^Advert ifement. 

THere is now ready for the Prefs, 
and will fiiortly be Printed a 
fmall Treatife about Jufli/icatwriyhy the 
Reverend Mr. Samuel Willoyd^ Teacher 
at the South Church in Bo§ton. 



By a coincidence, which happened quite independently of 
Colonel Higginson's gift, and at nearly the same time, was the 
binding of a thin tract by the Rev. John Higginson, printed in 
the year 1665. It is entitled " A Direction for a Publick Pro- 
fession in the Church Assembly, after private Examination by 
the Elders," etc., and more than eighty years ago came into 
the possession of the Library, where it was given by Lieutenant- 
Governor Thomas L. Winthrop, afterward the President of 



the Society. A short time later it was bound up with 
twenty other pamphlets, of which none approached it in 
value or interest. Through the kindness of our associate, 
Mr. Robert C. Winthrop, Jr., at his expense this tract has 
been taken from the volume, carefully cleaned, and bound 
separately in full morocco. For a collation of its pages, see 
Proceedings (second series, IX. 423) of the Society. 

The Rev. Joseph B. Felt reprints the tract, both in his 
pamphlet entitled " Did the First Church of Salem originally 
have ) Confession of Faith distinct from their Covenant?' 1 
(Bostor 1856), pages 23-25; and also in his " Reply to the 
New-En< d Congregationalism of Hon. Daniel A. White" 
(Salem " \ pages 55-57. A clew to the date of its appear- 
ance (1665) i found on page 17 of the first-named pamphlet, 
as well as a clew to its authorship. 

In the lower margin of the first page of the tract, in the 
handwriting of Governor John Winthrop, Jr., is the following : 
u The author is M r John Higenson Pastor of y e Church of 
Salem." Specimens of the same writing may be seen in a copy 
of an Almanack for 1662, which is bound up with four other 
English almanacs, that had once belonged to three generations 
of the Winthrop family, and now are found on the shelves of 
the Historical Society. John Winthrop, Jr., and John Hig- 
ginson were contemporaries, and at one time lived near 
each other in Connecticut; and of course they knew one 
another well. I mention this fact in some detail, as I consider 
the written statement in regard to the authorship to be con- 
clusive, inasmuch as it was made at that period ; and further- 
more Dr. Felt reached the same conclusion, presumably from 
an independent starting-point. 

It has been said that the Rev. Francis Higginson, the father, 
was the writer of the tract, — and not the son, — inasmuch as 
the title refers to " the Church of Salem " in 1629, the year it 
was gathered. A careful reading of the phraseology, how- 
ever, shows that the "Direction for a Publick Profession," 
etc., purported to be only " the same for Substance," and did 
not claim to be identical with that originally agreed upon by 
the Church. 

Higginson's tract was printed in the year 1665 by Samuel 
Green, of Cambridge, who at that period was the only printer 
in the Colonies. 



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